Sunday, June 7, 2009

Paladin Power Reminder

I am watching Scrapped Princess and Shannon Casull just fought against the first Peacemaker. Peacemakers are like angels in service to Providence and they are trying to kill the Scrapped Princess. They have the ability to dominate the minds of humans. However, using the power of Zefiris (a dragon spirit that opposes the Peacemakers and Providence), Shannon is able to break free of the mind control and destroy the Peacemaker.

Q1. Would a paladin be susceptible to the Peacemaker's mind control?A1. Since the Peacemakers are ultimately working against mankind, they are most analogous to demons and not angels. Thus the question becomes, are paladins susceptible to possession by demonic spirits? The answer is no. The specially preserved soul of the paladin is inhabited with the Spirit of God and no room remains for the overt influence of demonic spirits. Like all humans, paladins are vulnerable to temptation though their preserved spirit and dedication to God and His grace give them greater strength to resist.

Q2. The Peacemaker took the form of a gigantic winged angel during the fight with Shannon. If Shannon were a paladin, how would he have fought against a creature the size of a large skyscraper floating a hundred feet in the air?A2. The purpose of the paladins is to oppose the demonic incursion of the flesh. Since the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, demons have been offered a doorway into our world through the acceptance of flesh. Such incarnations are in opposition to the nature God gave them and thus the paladins are tasked with opposing incarnated demons. However, a skyscraped-sized, airborne creature far exceeds any expectations of actual flesh, even accounting for the demonic tendency to warp and alter physical norms. As such, the Peacemaker's angelic form would not be an instance of incarnation but, rather, an expression of its spiritual power. We must assume that the Peacemaker had crossed into flesh at one point in order to explain the presence and opposition of the paladin, so we are faced with a situation in which a demon casts off its mortal, incarnated form to once again wield the full power of its spiritual self. God has placed limits on even what the demons may accomplish in their natural, spiritual forms and thus we may also assume that this display is beyond God's law. Thus we arrive at the solution both used in the episode as well as the impetus for this post: the reminder that a paladin does not rely solely upon his own flesh and God's grace to perform his duties. All paladins are accompanied by angelic spirits that work in the spiritual plane to oppose demonic activity as the paladin works in the material plane. Thus, in the face of an overt display of spiritual power, the demon is immediately opposed by the angelic guardian of the paladin. In the Scrapped Princess, this takes the form of the humongous energy sword that Shannon wielded against the Peacemaker. As we have already assumed the Peacemaker had an incarnate form to draw the attention of the paladin, we can explain Shannon's actions against the angelic form as his contribution to destroying the physical form of the demon while the angel dispelled the spiritual form of the demon. Demons are themselves immortal, as God has made that part of their nature, so the demonic spirit was banished back to hell when its spiritual and physical forms were dismantled. And, as the demon had to become a soul as well as a spirit to properly take flesh for itself, it may be subject to God's laws governing the afterlife of humanity (facing an eternity of torment in hell without the relative freedom of other demons before the coming of the Kingdom).